Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose for a sixth day in seven in New York after Iran brought forward its deadline for European Union proposals to end a dispute over the country's nuclear power program.

Iran, the second-largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, will restart some of its uranium- ore conversion activities in Isfahan if the EU didn't respond to the new deadline, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday, citing Iran's negotiator Ali Agha Mohammadi.

``It's another risk to the stability in the region,'' said Mark Waggoner, President of Excel Futures Inc. in Huntington Beach, California.

Crude oil for September delivery rose as much as 40 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $60.97 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $60.96 at 10:19 a.m. Sydney time. Oil rose 3.3 percent last week and today is up 39 percent from a year ago.

BP Plc, the world's second-largest publicly traded oil company, yesterday shut a gasoline-making unit at its Texas City refinery in Houston, Reuters reported, citing a company filing to Texas environmental regulators.

Crude oil reached $61.05 on July 29, the highest in more than two weeks, after an explosion and fire at the Texas City refinery heightened concerns about the ability of U.S. refiners to meet summer gasoline demand and store heating fuel for the northern hemisphere winter. The contract closed at $60.57, a 63 cent-gain, after the company extinguished the fire and said output was little changed.

Oil Fields

Iran set a deadline for Sunday, the newswire reported. Iran had earlier set a Monday deadline for the U.K., France and Germany, the EU negotiators, demanding incentives to guarantee its nuclear program is peaceful, AFP said. Iran wants the EU to recognize its right to restart the program, the report said.

Iran produced about 14 percent of the 30.1 million barrels a day OPEC produced in June, according to analysts and traders surveyed by Bloomberg. Its output rose to 4.2 million barrels a day last month after three oil fields operated by foreign oil companies began operations, the country's oil minister said July 27.

Iran halted the program in November when France, Germany and the U.K. proposed a potential trade package in return for the country ending uranium enrichment. Iran's move is ``damaging'' and could result in the dispute being referred to the United Nations, the U.K Foreign Office said in a statement yesterday.

The U.K. is leading the European negotiations with Iran. Iran's government had been told the full proposals would be set out in a week's time, the Foreign Office statement said. That timing caters for the swearing in of president-elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Aug.3, Agence France-Presse reported.

``They've got this new president so nobody really knows what is going to happen and how much this thing is going to escalate,'' Excel's Waggoner said.

Oil prices have risen 44 percent this year on concern rising demand in the U.S. and China, the world's biggest consumers, may outstrip supply. OPEC, which pumps 40 percent of the world's oil, has raised its production quota five times the past year to meet rising demand and swell global stockpiles before demand peaks in the fourth quarter.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gavin Evans in Wellington, New Zealand at gavinevans@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 31, 2005 20:37 EDT